Home > American Minerals III – May 26 > MS1574 Pyromorphite
Pyromorphite - Sold
- Wheatley mine
- Phoenixville
- Chester County
- Pennsylvania
- U.S.A.
- 5.4 by 3.2 by 2.2 cm – Miniature specimen (fits into a 5 cm cube)
Pyromorphite is a lead phosphate chloride. Hausmann (1813) named the mineral by combining Greek roots pyro, fire, and morphe, form. In the nineteenth century, routine chemical analysis involved blowpipe methods which melt and burn samples to observe spectral colors. Pyromorphite recrystallizes readily on cooling from a liquid state, hence the mineral name.
This is a crust of pyromorphite crystals to 4 mm covering both sides of a gossan matrix. Formerly part of the Arthur Flagg (1883-1961) collection.
